Palinisms

Throughout the short history of America its leaders have generally been fairly well educated and had a better-than-average command of the English language. We may not have always liked what they said, but they've usually said it correctly and with a certain amount of logic. George Bush broke that tradition and was famous for his mangling of the English language. He mispronounced, misused and made up words. His one saving grace was that even though he said things incorrectly a person could usually understand what he meant.

Sarah Palin takes the Bush legacy a step further. She not only makes up words that don't exist, but she is a proponent of creating word salads -- stringing together a series of words which when examined have little or no meaning (even though it started out sounding like it would have meaning). The folks over at The Huffington Post have compiled what they believe to be the 15 craziest "Palinisms". Here they are (with the date she uttered them):

“Nuclear weaponry, of course, would be the be-all, end-all of just too many people in too many parts of our planet.” 9/25/2008

"As Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where – where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border." 9/25/2008

"So we discussed what was going on in Africa. And never, ever did I talk about, Well, gee, is it a country or is it a continent, I just don't know about this issue." 11/11/2008

“I don’t know if I should Buenos Aires or Bonjour, or… this is such a melting pot. This is beautiful. I love the diversity. Yeah. There were a whole bunch of guys named Tony in the photo line, I know that.” 4/15/2010

“Obviously we loved sports, and the baby was born during the spring track season.” (from her book)

“Believe it or not – this was in the 60s – we used to hustle on over the border for health care that we would receive in Whitehorse…. Isn’t that kind of ironic now. Zooming over the border, getting health care from Canada.” 3/6/2010

"The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil." 8/7/2009

"When the American people elected President Obama they gave him responsibility to handle this disaster. He promised to “heal the earth, and watch the waters recede...” or something far-fetched like that." 5/27/2010

“I didn’t believe the theory that human beings – thinking, loving beings – originated from fish that sprouted legs and crawled out of the sea. Or that human beings began as single-celled organisms that developed into monkeys who eventually swung down from the trees.” (from her book)

“With the gray Talkeetna Mountains in the distance and the first light covering of snow about to descend on Pioneer Peak, I breathed in an autumn bouquet that combined everything small-town America with rugged splashes of the Last Frontier.” (from her book)

"I think it's (negative coverage) appalling and a violation of our freedom of the press." 5/21/2010

"Ground Zero Mosque supporters: doesn't it stab you in the heart, as it does ours throughout the heartland? Peaceful Muslims, pls refudiate." 7/18/2010

"'Refudiate,' 'misunderestimate,' 'wee-wee'd up.' English is a living language. Shakespeare liked to coin new words too. Got to celebrate it!" 7/18/2010

"I'm not politically correct. I am not one to be a word police." 2/7/2010

"I didn't really had a good answer, as so often -- is me." 3/5/2010